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Wednesday, September 02, 2009

The Media (Accidentally?) Missed this one!!!!

Don’t know whether you heard about this but Denzel Washington and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, Texas (BAMC) the other day. This is where soldiers who have been evacuated from Germany come to be hospitalized in the United States , especially burn victims. There are some buildings there called Fisher Houses.

The Fisher House is a Hotel where soldiers’ families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is staying in the Hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, but as you can imagine, they are almost filled most of the time..

While Denzel Washington was visiting BAMC, they gave him a tour of one of the Fisher Houses. He asked how much one of them would cost to build He took his checkbook out and wrote a check for the full amount right there on the spot. The soldiers overseas were amazed to hear this story and want to get the word out to the American public, because it warmed their hearts to hear it.

The question is -why do:
Madonna,
Tom Cruise and
other Hollywood fluff
make front page news with their ridiculous antics and Denzel Washington’s Patriotism doesn’t even make page 3 in the Metro section of any newspaper except the Local newspaper in San Antonio .
This needs as wide a distribution
as we can create. Share it!

Saturday, October 25, 2008

For those that feel that racism no longer exists in America.

A young man went to ‘Journey’s’ (shoe store) in Kansas City, MO. He bought a pair of shoes and then saw an identical pair at a different store for less. As such, he bought the identical shoes from the cheaper store and took back the original more pricey pair to Journey’s. Later on that night, as we has reviewing the receipt, he noticed that the reason for the return was ‘Dumb Nigger’. When he took the receipt back to the store, they didn’t even apologize but did admit that said ‘reason’ was in the system

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Leading US Economics Professors oppose the Wall Street Bailout Plan

This letter was sent to Congress on Wed Sept 24 2008 regarding the Treasury plan as outlined on that date. It does not reflect all signatories views on subesquent plans or modifications of the bill.

I am no economics professor, but I also feel that this plan is faulty. If our Congressmen truly believe in the hands off business model, then they should allow bad businesses to fail. These guys should know better than any other group in the US.

To the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President pro tempore of the Senate:

As economists, we want to express to Congress our great concern for the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Paulson to deal with the financial crisis. We are well aware of the difficulty of the current financial situation and we agree with the need for bold action to ensure that the financial system continues to function. We see three fatal pitfalls in the currently proposed plan:

1) Its fairness. The plan is a subsidy to investors at taxpayers’ expense. Investors who took risks to earn profits must also bear the losses. Not every business failure carries systemic risk. The government can ensure a well-functioning financial industry, able to make new loans to creditworthy borrowers, without bailing out particular investors and institutions whose choices proved unwise.

2) Its ambiguity. Neither the mission of the new agency nor its oversight are clear. If taxpayers are to buy illiquid and opaque assets from troubled sellers, the terms, occasions, and methods of such purchases must be crystal clear ahead of time and carefully monitored afterwards.

3) Its long-term effects. If the plan is enacted, its effects will be with us for a generation. For all their recent troubles, America’s dynamic and innovative private capital markets have brought the nation unparalleled prosperity. Fundamentally weakening those markets in order to calm short-run disruptions is desperately short-sighted.

For these reasons we ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action, and to wisely determine the future of the financial industry and the U.S. economy for years to come.

Of course these statements have caused a great deal of controversy here in NM. Many Republicans have publicly called for Mr. C de Baca’s resignation but I just read before noon that he was retained as chairman.

I’ve lived here almost 13 years and never have I heard or been subjected to anything remotely like this here. In fact, when I first moved here, Hispanics were the only ones who welcomed me. Half the whites wouldn’t speak to me and same with the blacks. I’ve heard a lot of ugly racist things over the years, but something about this comment really punched me in the gut. It is breath-taking in its hurtfulness.

New York City Darfur Events - September 24 & 25

NYC Darfur Events - September 24 & 25

Dear
Darfur Supporter,

We are
pleased to invite you to two events that will place needed
pressure on United Nations member states during the U.N. General
Assembly. These events will focus on the International Criminal
Count, UNAMID peacekeepers, and ending the arms trade that
allows the genocide to continue with impunity.

China: No More Arms to
Sudan!

September 24, 2008

12:00 p.m.

Chinese Mission to the United Nations

350 East 35th Street

New York, NY 10016

The
Olympics are over, but the fact remains: China continues to
underwrite the genocide in Darfur. In October, China takes over
the presidency of the United Nations Security Council. In this
leadership position, we can’t let China off the hook. Join AJWS
and Darfur advocacy partners for a protest highlighting China’s
almost exclusive sale of small arms to Sudan and calling for an
expanded UN arms embargo on Sudan. Events will be coordinated in
four other cities across the country.
href="http://action.savedarfur.org/ct/5pMjcwp17cHu/">To
participate in this important action please sign up
now.Sponsored by American Jewish World
Service.

cellpadding=3>

No More Delays in Darfur: Peacekeepers and
Justice Now!

Close the
gap between promises and reality: Call on the United Nations to
honor its commitment to protect the people of Darfur.

The Save Darfur Coalition is an
alliance of over 180 faith-based, advocacy and human rights organizations whose
mission is to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to
mobilize a unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of more
than two million people in the Darfur region. To learn more, please visit http://www.SaveDarfur.org.

John Mccain continues to lie.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Please take the time to see “Earthlings”.

As we contemplate our future while discussing the merits of differing fuel sources, let’s also discuss how we treat the least among us, the animals we live with. This is a very disturbing, but extremely important documentary.

I watched this 80 minute documentary last night and had difficulty going to sleep. The images were too striking for me to dismiss as isolated events. Understand that what is presented here is just the trailer. I’ve read that the video is on Google Videos. I haven’t checked so I don’t know for sure.

If you are strong enough to watch this video in its entirety, take the time to talk about it to the people in your life that you care about.

“OF ALL THE FILMS I HAVE EVER MADE, THIS IS THE ONETHAT GETS PEOPLE TALKING
THE MOST. FOR EVERY ONE PERSON WHO SEES EARTHLINGS,THEY WILL TELL THREE.”
-Joaquin Phoenix, actor/narrator

“IF I COULD MAKE EVERYONE IN THE WORLD SEE ONE FILM,I’D MAKE THEM SEE EARTHLINGS.”
-Peter Singer, author Animal Liberation

“EARTHLINGS IS THE DEFINITIVE FILM OF ALL TIME THATAMERICANS DON’T WANT TO SEE.”
-Gretchen Wyler, The Humane
Society of the United States

“EARTHLINGS IS THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST OF ANIMALRIGHTS FILMS.”
-Aint It Cool News

“FOR THOSE WHO WATCH EARTHLINGS, THE WORLD WILLNEVER BE THE SAME.”
-Tom Regan, author A Case
for Animal Rights

“EARTHLINGS MAY BE THE MOST POWERFUL FILMEXPERIENCE I HAVE EVER KNOWN!”
-Brent Emery, Senior VP, Maverick Films
“EARTHLINGS IS NOTHING SHORT OF A MASTERPIECE!”
-Lionel Friedberg, producer Animal Planet

“PROVOCATIVE AND DEFIANT. THIS IS A DEFINITIVE MILESTONE!”
-Edmund Stone, In Defense of Animals

“WATCHING EARTHLINGS IS THE GREATEST GIFTI HAVE EVER RECEIVED.
I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW IGNORANT I HAVE BEEN IN THE PAST.”
-Bryce Dallas Howard, actress

“IT IS A RARE EXPERIENCE TO BE CHANGED BY A FILM. EARTHLINGS HAS THAT POWER.”
-Persia White, actress/activist

“THE MOST POWERFUL MOVIE I HAVE EVER KNOWN."-Robert Cohen, NotMilk.com

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

The Coming Civil War

This is an original commentary that I recently wrote. I’m curious to know what others think.

Years ago in the late 80’s or early 90’s, my grandmother told me that she was scared for my generation. She told me that the social/political environment would be much worse for us than it was for her generation. I scoffed and reminded her that nothing could have been worse than the segregated society she grew up in the South. She simply responded that we would have to wait and see. Mother died in 1999 at the age of 87. The events that this country has been through since 2000 would have captivated her. She was a voracious consumer of the news, up on current events not only locally and nationally but also internationally. She always had some news program on and read many political and financial magazines and newspapers.

Over the past four years, I’ve come to think Mother was right. Another bit of advice Mother gave me was to never trust the Bushes. She said never vote for a Bush. I followed her advice and neither voted for GW nor Herbert Walker. Unfortunately, not enough people benefited from her sage advice. I am not ashamed to say it but I am scared. I am scared because most people don’t realize that we are at a dangerous point in our country’s future.

And I am not talking about al-Qaeda or Islamic terrorism. Al-Qaeda is certainly a dangerous network of religious fanatics that want to harm our country but we have our own religious fanatics willing to harm our Republic. [Full disclosure: I am a born-again follower of Christ. I have just begun to shed the term of Evangelical. I am increasingly at odds with the majority of Evangelicals and can no longer stand in that camp. I have been a Christian for nearly 20 years and have attended Evangelical churches throughout the years and I am still a member of an Evangelical church. I am trying to figure out whether I will stay or go.]

I am scared for this country because we are headed for a civil war centered on abortion. The Right and especially the Religious Right wants this war. They are especially energized with the selection of Sarah Palin as John McCain’s running mate. Sarah Palin is a theocrat, meaning that she and many Evangelicals do not believe in a separation of Church and State. They want to implement a biblical form of government. They want to create a truly Christian nation modeled after ancient Israel where there is no secular government. Evangelicals and hard right people are absolutely giddy about Sarah Palin. She is their “Moses”. Many had planned on sitting out this election, but not anymore. John McCain may think he is in charge of his party but he is not. Richard Viguerie, a long-time leading Conservative, said on the radio last week that when judging political experience versus world-view that world-view wins out. They don’t care about McCain. They are tolerating him until Sarah; their “chosen” one is rightfully installed as President. McCain is neither that healthy nor hardy. If I were McCain, I would be very scared that the theocrats weren’t trying to hasten his demise. Palin is George W. Bush on steroids. Bush abused the use of executive orders. If Palin were to replace McCain, she would not hesitate to circumvent the law or the Constitution to end abortion in all circumstances. Considering the age and composition of the Supreme Court, she will have a majority of very conservative justices to uphold her evisceration of the Constitution.

For the Evangelical Right, the anti-abortion issue is the seminal cultural/political/social issue of this time. They liken this issue to the anti-slavery movement of the early 19th century. They see themselves as modern day abolitionists. The Left and many in the press are not sufficiently aware of how volatile this issue is and how ardent the Religious Right is to wage a war on this issue. They are making traction on this issue within the Republican Party. Many of the moderates are being pushed out or being marginalized. Before Sarah Palin was selected, the Republican brand was seriously in jeopardy. Many, including the Religious Right, were disillusioned with George W. Bush. He had the Supreme Court, the Executive and Legislative branches and yet still did not overturn Roe v. Wade. The Neo-cons have always been much more interested in waging war and making obscene amounts of money in oil and defense contracting rather than pushing a cultural agenda. They pay lip service to pro-life positions but frankly they aren’t particularly vested in the issue. They dangle the issue out there to keep the Religious Right in their pocket but they never had any intention of changing the status quo. Sarah Palin changes the game. The Religious Right will no longer patiently wait for abolition. Those in the pro-choice crowd who don’t recognize the danger are doomed to be drawn into a war.

I am not trying to unnecessarily alarm anyone but I’ve spent several years reading and responding to Christian blogs. When you scratch beyond the surface with most Evangelicals, they won’t disagree that abortion is the only issue that matters to them and the issue that gets them to vote. [Additional disclosure: I am personally opposed to abortion, but until several larger issues are dealt with I don’t believe that banning abortion is helpful or realistic. I will address those issues later in this essay.] Once Sarah Palin is fraudulently made president, the war is on. After what we have observed over the past 8 years, I have serious doubts that Congress will stand up to the Executive Branch. So it will be the grass-roots pro-choice army that will take on the pro-life establishment. [Note: Interesting term – pro-life. The Right uses this term but they aren’t real strict about which lives they want to protect. More on that below.] I don’t know if there will be actual armies fighting in the streets but there will be such a division that we haven’t seen since Lincoln’s Civil War.

Apart from preventing John McCain and Sarah Palin from reaching the White House, the only way to stave off this war is to compromise. Both sides will need to make big concessions. Neither side will win because both are operating from a zero-sum game but compromise will happen at some point – before or after the war. What will the Left have to concede? 1) Partial birth abortion – gone. Completely. 2) Most abortion situations will not be allowed. No more abortions unless in cases of rape and incest or the life of the mother is in jeopardy. No more abortions even if the fetus has genetic abnormalities. Rich women will still be able to get abortions because they can travel abroad or have a “DNC”. Depending upon how you look at it the Right will have to make the most concessions. If they want to eliminate nearly all abortions, they will have to accept some remedies that will be particularly unpalatable to them. 3) Finally, ban embryonic stem cell research. There are advances in stem cell research that will negate the need for the use of embryos.

What will the Right have to concede? 1) In limited cases, abortion will be allowed in cases of rape and incest or the life of the mother is in jeopardy. 2) More will need to be done to support women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy. Pregnancy crisis centers are not going to be the salve that will allow the Left to accept a compromise. A real commitment in terms of legislation and funding will have to provide a cushion for women who are in poverty or near poverty. The major reason for most women who seek abortion is immediate and long-term finances. 2a) The compromise will require universal healthcare for all US children. When a woman goes to have her baby, the mother and child will receive free healthcare. 2b) Free childcare and/or pre-school for all children until they reach elementary school age. 2c) Another consideration is to provide 24 months of paid maternity leave from the Federal Government. This burden cannot be put on employers because childbearing women would never be employed. Of course, most people on the Right will cry about the massive spending this will require but if we are to believe they care about more than the fetus, then they need to put their money where their mouth is. 3) Abandon Abstinence-Only education. This concession will be one of the most contentious but it is only reasonable if most abortion is eliminated. I know the Right would like to believe that all modern teen-agers will forgo sexual relations if they receive intensive abstinence-only education, but the statistics show that this approach has been a big failure. Frankly, I find this head-in-the-sand approach bewildering considering the amount of extramarital, premarital and unmarried co-habitation that occurs among adults. If the adults can’t control themselves, what makes them think that hormonal, impulsive teens are going to be paragons of virtue? If abortion is severely curtailed, young people need to understand how to prevent unwanted pregnancy. 4) Finally, this last concession is not a clear Right vs. Left fight. The death penalty should not be allowed to be consistent with a pro-life position. If the unborn cannot be aborted, then the living, no matter how reprehensible, should not be executed. There are many in both camps that feel this way and there are many in both camps that want to exact vengeance. There are those who will trot out Scripture to support their position for capital punishment, but Scripture also points to acts of mercy (see Barrabas). The major argument from the Right is to protect the life of innocents. They don’t mind putting to death those they believe are guilty. The problem with the death penalty is that sometimes the innocent are also put to death.

The compromise will be difficult for those invested on both sides, but I dare say we are approaching the time where this issue will have to be dealt with. Our country will not be able to dodge this bullet. We are running out of time and cooler heads will need to prevail and reach across the divide and compromise before it is too late and real lives are lost. Both sides need to realize that each side is committed to life; it’s just that they value different lives and who has the control over those lives.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Favorite Quote

I’ve heard some great speeches this week at the Democratic Convention but this is a great line by Bill Clinton.
“...people have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.”

It accuses France of training Hutu militias responsible for the slaughter, helping plan the genocide, and participating in the killings.

“French forces directly assassinated Tutsis and Hutus accused of hiding Tutsis… French forces committed several rapes on Tutsi survivors,” said a statement from the justice ministry cited by AFP news agency.

“Considering the seriousness of the alleged crimes, the Rwandan government has urged the relevant authorities to bring the accused French politicians and military officials to justice,” the statement said.

It further alleged that French forces did nothing to challenge checkpoints used by Hutu forces in the genocide.

“They clearly requested that the Interahamwes contine to man those checkpoints and kill Tutsis attempting to flee,” it said.

The BBC’s Geoffrey Mutagoma in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, says the commission spent nearly two years investigating France’s alleged role in the genocide.

It heard testimonies from genocide survivors, researchers, writers and reporters.

The 500-page document was presented to the Rwanda’s government last November, but was not made public until now.

Rwanda has repeatedly accused France of arming and training the Hutu militias that perpetrated the genocide, and of dragging its feet in co-operating with the investigations that followed.

France has maintained that its forces helped protect civilians during a UN-sanctioned mission in Rwanda at the time.

The two countries have had a frosty relationship since 2006 when a French judge implicated Rwandan President Paul Kagame in the downing in 1994 of then-President Juvenal Habyarimana’s plane - an event widely seen as triggering the killings.

President Kagame has always denied the charge.

He says Mr Habyarimana, a Hutu, was killed by Hutu extremists who then blamed the incident on Tutsi rebels to provide the pretext for the genocide.